1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to coolers for beverages or other food items. More particularly, it relates to a cooler mountable on the steering wheel column of a golf cart or other vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The typical golf cart is too small to easily accommodate a large, insulated cooler. Accordingly, inventors have looked for ways to mount a cooler on a cart in a way that will not cramp the space of the users of the cart. Perhaps the most successful design heretofore is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,767 to Buschbom. In a first embodiment, it provides a mounting means that mounts a cooler in the passenger compartment of the cart in the dashboard area thereof, and in a second embodiment, it provides a mounting means for mounting a cooler outside the passenger compartment, on the hood of the vehicle. In both embodiments, the cooler is mounted on the passenger side of the vehicle so as not to interfere with the driver.
Although the Bushbom apparatus fulfills its intended function, there is room for improvement because the first embodiment occupies a substantial part of the already-cramped passenger compartment, and the second embodiment positions the cooler at an inconvenient location.
What is needed, then, is a mounting means that positions the cooler inside the passenger compartment but not in such a way as to deprive the passengers of space. At the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in this art that such outstanding needs existed nor was it perceived how the outstanding needs could be fulfilled.